A rainy day.

Today it is raining and things that were supposed to happen got cancelled/delayed. I can't complain, apparently I wouldn't have been strong enough to cart wheelbarrows full of concrete around anyway. The dog has finally decided to go outside and do something. She has been hiding in her bed all day. The cat is still asleep, I don't think he will be awake any time soon. The pansies are drenched.

 And so are these little guys. 

 But look, Good news! The bright pink day lilies that I took a chunk of last year from a friends garden have returned from winter safe and sound! Can't wait to see them bloom!

Look what else I found out on the lawn! Sadly misplaced.

I found it just as I was thinking about doing this on the weekend...

Lamb update!

They're growing, running, learning to eat solid food and generally seem to be having a blast. Here are a few pictures of the growing babies!

SHE POPPED! and now I can sleep through the night again!

After 15 days lambing is done for the year! Tonight the alarm will not be going off at 2:30am! Heck, maybe I will go to bed right now! haha.

Last night I went to the barn at 9:30 pm and then again at 2:30am and Peas was just hanging out like she has been all along. Then this morning I slept in until 7:45am. I thought oh well she wont have had them anyways. I went out and she was just quietly laying down. I started to feed everyone when I heard quiet new baby cries! WHAT!? I looked again and there they were! A little boy and a little girl! everything went smoothly and they were up and had full tummies. The ram lamb has Crazy (!) black markings! He has a big patch of black on one leg, black near his feet and the patches on his face make him look like some sort of drag queen/evil clown/rockstar. The little ewe has a cute spot on her nose, one on her ear and another under one eye. Peas aka Black Eye Peas always seems to give us some interesting markings. I wish I knew what her breeding was!

Here is her ram from last year. 

 And here is her new Ram lamb this year!

I am not going to lie to you guys, looking at this little ram kind of freaks me out. I started calling him the joker because he reminds me of the Joker from Batman aka an Evil Clown! Hopefully I can get a better picture of this guy when he is out in the sun and a bit less new looking.

Here is a picture of his sister. Her spots are a lot less dramatic! Yes she is peeing in this picture but it was the only one I could get of her face hahaha. I am calling her Fergie after her mother!

And here are a few more pictures of the three of them that I took tonight in the barn. That should explain the bad lighting and glow in the dark eyes. Stupid flash! I will get some more during the day when everyone is out and about. 

Peas was chewing her cud in this last one, thats what the lump is in her cheek.

Ps. On a bit of a sad note, little Ram Jam seems to have hurt one of his legs. probably during a lamb race or possibly he was hit into a wall by his best friends mother. Hopefully he is feeling better soon. I felt it and it doesn't seem broken so hopefully it is just a pulled muscle. Poor little guy, he is getting around just fine on 3 legs though. 

Where were we?

So right after my last post about the two girls having their lambs at the same time and then us losing one. I went back out to the barn and there was Alien and her new lamb and Peas was right there helping her clean it off. I separated them and noticed that there was another lamb hanging out of her. I then had the unexpected chance to redeem myself for the loss of the lamb earlier that day. Aliens lamb was coming out breech as well. I helped it out and he was just fine as I thanked the heavens! She had a nice set of twins, a little girl and a little boy. Derek named them Black Betty and Ram Jam. They are very nice active lambs and are doing well. Here they are...

 Black Betty above and Ram Jam below.

The next day I went to work with 3 ewes left to lamb. When I got home from work I fed them and Nutmeg was not interested. I left her alone and came back after half an hour and she was uncomfortable and getting up and down and up and down. I left her a bit longer because she didn't seem to be pushing yet. About half an hour later I went back out because my in laws were in the barn checking out the lambs. By this time Nutmeg was pushing and pushing. Finally I decided to check her out. There is was AGAIN, a head with no feet. After a bit of repositioning we got the lamb out and it is a beautiful all chocolate brown girl. She is such a cutie. I named her Mace, but I think I will call her Macey. Mace and Nutmeg. haha. Get it?

Here she is, not the best picture but there will be more to come I am sure. 

I am very pleased with her. She came out of their pen today and is running around with all the other lambs like a pro. 

After Mace was born there was only 2 girls left to lamb. I went to bed and when I went out at 2:30am there were Peas and Tootsie cleaning up Tootsie's new lamb. Another ewe lamb. She was already up and had a belly full of milk. It took me awhile to find a private space for them but I made one up so that Aunt Peas couldn't help them out anymore. I don't like Peas to help with the other lambs because it might confuse the first time moms. Today I let Tootsie and Smartie out of their pen. That little girl is a trooper! She is running around exploring and having a ball. Here she is when they were still in their private pen. I will have to get better pictures today or tomorrow. 

Today all the lambs and their mothers are together running around having fun and Peas is still waiting around to have her own. She has a huge luxury suite now that all the dividing walls are gone. Her udder is getting pretty big and I'm thinking that it CAN'T be TOO much longer CAN IT?!

Here she is in all her current glory from the front and the back. 

And here are some more pictures of the other lambs doing lamb things. 

Being protected by their mothers.

 Sleeping under the hay bag and almost disappearing.

 Climbing on their mothers.

 Drinking at the milk bar.

Sleeping in the sunshine.

Hanging out with their peeps.

And running away from the Shepherd.

So much to tell...

So tired. Updates tonight, or at least tomorrow.

Lamb Totals: 5 Girls, 4 Boys
Ewes Left: 1!! Peas!

Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, and sometimes you do both.

Today was a _____ day on the farm. I don't know how to describe it. there was highs there was lows. It seems that every emotion I thought I knew and ones that I didn't know at all were present.

Today as I had asked for we had more lambs. Around 7:30 I fed the pregnant ewes and Stella did not eat. I thought that she looked close so I was not concerned. I thought that I should walk the dog, put her in the house and then come back out to see if I should call work to let them know that I would be late. When I came to check cell phone in hand there were Stella AND Tail in labour. Great. I called and said I would be late. I sat with the girls as they pushed and out came a little spotty ram lamb from Tail. She looked really big so I was surprised that she did not get right back to business and start pushing again. I was worried about her because she had so much trouble with Maple. Stella kept pushing and pushing and pushing. Finally I took a look and there was a little nose sticking out. Dang. There should be some legs with that. Lets just say that I had to tie her up, go in, find a leg and pull out a big beautiful chocolate brown ram lamb. His tongue was a bit swollen but he seemed fine. Tail at this point had started eating so I thought it was over, a little disappointed by the homely little guy but at least she seemed to be letting him drink so that was all I could ask for. I put them into their own lambing pens, got the babes dried off better etc and thought I was just about ready to go to work. then I see that Tail has started to push again (This is over an hour later). She pushed a few times, then I checked and there was some feet sticking out. Oh there is the other one I had been expecting. Then I thought that I better just check things out and it turned out that it was the back legs not the front. I was starting to panic. It had been in there way too long and it is coming out backwards. I managed to free the lamb but it was too late for him. There was nothing that I could do to make him come alive. All I could think was poor Tail. I should have checked her after the first when I thought it was weird that there didn't seem to be another.

So in the end we have to healthy ram lambs. Tail and Stella are doing great with them. I am sad about the loss of the third but I guess sometimes you have to learn lessons the hard way. I will not be making that mistake again if I can help it. I am just glad that I was able to be there for both of them or else I think we would have lost 5 sheep today.

We are officially half way through lambing. We now have 2 ewe lambs and 3 ram lambs. 4 more girls to go and hopefully it goes a lot smoother than today.

Here are some pictures of the new boys. Boots (White) and Tip (Brown).

Oh yeah I did take Maple's 1st birthday photo. Here she is yelling at me for not taking it yesterday. ps. Boots is her full blood brother!

Happy Birthday Maple!

Last year on this date I walked into the barn only to hear the screams of a frantic lamb! This was our friend Maple! Her mother did not know what to do with her and wouldn't let her nurse. She was chasing after her mother and another ewe that was in the pen with them. We tried covering her in maple syrup to try to convince her mother to love her, but she really only wanted the syrup not the lamb. Thats where she got the name.  It took a few days and a few bottle feedings until her mother finally accepted her.

Here she was on day one....

Today she is still here on the farm, and still the most loud and persistent sheep that I own. I guess I can't blame her. She has been screaming and carrying on since the second she was born, and I guess it worked, because she lived and fought for that milk in those first few days. Sometimes you just can't please her and then I threaten to sell her and any other full blooded sisters that might be born this year. Her mother currently looks like a soccer ball on stilts and she is not budging. 

Today I fed her a timbit and she loved it. Happy Birthday Maple, you are such a bonehead. 

I didn't take a picture of her today (Maybe I will tomorrow) but here she was a few months ago showing her true colours.

Puppy Surprise!

Lately people have been asking me why I am so excited to have all the ewes lamb, and why I am getting frustrated waiting. I have decided it is because of this.....

Puppy Surprise!

When I was a kid, and these things were all the rage, I got one for my birthday (I also got kitty surprise the following year)! Thanks Grandma! Basically it was a stuffed dog who was pregnant. When you got it home and took it out of the box you got to rip open the Velcro on its stomach and see how many puppies she had inside!!! I think the options were 3, 4 or 5! I could not wait to get this toy out of the box. After 2 years of this my Grandmother was disgusted with the whole thing. I will always remember her saying she would not buy anything like this for me again. She never did. 

So, it happens to be very close to my birthday and there is 6 lamb surprises waiting for me out in the barn. I am so excited to see what they are hiding inside that I can hardly stand it!

ps. I found this picture on another blog I follow! I couldn't believe it because I have been thinking about this toy for weeks!!

pps. Gosh, they were kind of ugly.   

Still waiting?

Tonight MIGHT be the night. Only because they said it is supposed to be -2 degrees and damp. Crap. I don't care though I am prepared with my heat lamp so bring it on girls. I am tired of waiting around for you. :)

The Campbells came by today to see the 3 babies that are getting bigger and bigger everyday! Here are some pictures that they took!

Also, Last night Erin came over again to try to convince the girls that we needed some more action. It didn't work obviously but she did get me some pictures from the morning that the twins were born! Here they are all wet and sticky still. 

Thanks to everyone for sending me their pictures!